Wear-resistant, superhard compacts are utilized in a variety of mechanical applications. For example, polycrystalline diamond compacts (“PDCs”) are used in drilling tools (e.g., cutting elements, gage trimmers, etc.), machining equipment, bearing apparatuses, wire-drawing machinery, and in other mechanical apparatuses.
PDCs and other superhard compacts have found particular utility as superhard bearing elements in thrust bearings within pumps, turbines, subterranean drilling systems, motors, compressors, generators, gearboxes, and other systems and apparatuses. For example, a PDC bearing element typically includes a superhard polycrystalline diamond layer that is commonly referred to as a polycrystalline diamond (“PCD”) table. The PCD table can be formed and bonded to a substrate using a high-pressure/high-temperature (“HPHT”) process. Typically, the thickness of the PCD table is less than about 0.080 inch to minimize the moment and/or shear forces applied to the PCD table and minimize manufacturing costs.
A bearing apparatus (e.g., a thrust-bearing apparatus) typically includes a number of superhard bearing elements affixed to a support ring. The superhard bearing elements (e.g., a PDC bearing element) bear against another superhard bearing element(s) of an opposing bearing assembly during use. Superhard bearing elements are typically brazed directly into corresponding preformed recesses formed in a support ring of a fixed-position thrust bearing.
Despite the availability of a number of different bearing apparatuses including such PDCs and/or other superhard materials, manufacturers and users of bearing apparatuses continue to seek bearing apparatuses that exhibit improved performance characteristics, lower cost, or both.